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I think the fanciness of our meals growing up was more in the presentation than in the actual food, itself. Fine china, stemware, cloth napkins, special serving dishes brought out for the holidays. And we all dressed up in nice clothes. The actual food, itself, was standard holiday fare: turkey or ham, mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, etc. But the way it was served was elegant.
On non holidays, steak was always an expensive treat that we had on rare occasions but that was probably true in most families back in the day.
There was no "one" dish. My mom was a very good cook, and liked to entertain, so the fancy food would always be something different.
Food changes so much over the years, almondine which used to be "fancy" is now just one of the ways you do beans regularly.
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With everyone stating that their mom was a great cook, I will add that my mom was also a fabulous cook. But we never had anything that was thought of as "special occasion" dishes. We had great meals, all the time.
Even dad made killer ice cream, every week. He made it up until the year he died, at 93. Never considered "special" or fancy.
Well, I'll go the opposite way and dutifully report that my mother was not a great cook. I won't go so far as to say awful, but I'll leave it at adequate. I think the "fanciest" thing she ever made was green bean casserole, lol.
And my father was even worse. I remember one time when my mother was in a body cast for several weeks after spine fusion surgery, my father attempted to make spaghetti for us kids. After putting the packaged noodles in the big pot, he apparently realized about halfway through that he hadn't made enough, so he added more noodles to the pot, but didn't increase the cooking time. So when he served us the meal, half of the noodles were still crunchy. I kidded him about that for decades.
In the 70's my folks hosted/attended at home parties where the grownups would drink (occasionally a little to much), and play cards. Kids were always drug along because who could afford sitters. We loved playing outside games, red light, green light, or hide-go-seek while the grown ups had their fun. There was always popcorn or a desert for snacks at some point in the evening. For special occasions, New Years, etc., no kids were allowed. That's when the fancy food came out. Li'l smokies in bbq sauce, toothpicks with chunks of sweet pickle, cheese, hotdogs, or olives on them. Anytime mom put anything on a toothpick, we knew they were going to a party and we were not.
We never ate dessert much growing up. So pies and cakes were only for holidays and birthdays. We always had homemade pies at Thanksgiving. Most times if we had a dessert, it was things like watermelon or jello pudding.
My mom was a waitress, so she like to make her version of some of the dishes at the restaurants where she worked. One of her favorites was Crab Louis. It's basically a big salad with tomatoes and boiled eggs and a pile of crab meat on top. She also made Shrimp Louis. These were usually made on hot summer nights when she didn't want to cook, but also if she wanted to be "fancy".
Mom was a very good cook. Nothing fancy, but she put in effort to make it look appealing. I used to tell people she could cook a boot and people would ask for more.
Dad's claim to fame was pork pie. Mom had to make the pastry for it but Dad did the rest. Don't recall how much work was involved.
Sunday mornings he would make breakfast. But not always something I liked. Undercooked bacon, runny eggs. Never understood how people could eat those slimy eggs.
My mother was a fantastic cook, but for very special occasions, she'd break out the hand crank ice cream maker.
As kids, we'd . crank that thing for what seemed like hours, but that ice cream made with thick, fresh cream from pur milk cow and rich eggs from our chicken was a heavenly delight.
I've never tasted anything even close since, and I've worked as a certified chef in several very good restaurants.
That ice cream set a standard that I've never found anywhere, and I've been all over the world.
Oh, man. That reminded me of summer at our cousins' place. They had an ice-cream maker and made fresh peach ice cream. Like you said, I've never had anything that good since. Even gelato in Italy, lol.
And whoever said wild rice---now that was special. Used to be you couldn't get it everywhere and our relatives would bring it from Minnesota.
My parents were fairly affluent but with a Depression mind-set, so I never even had a steak growing up. My mom was not a good cook (no offense, RIP mom) and did the Hamburger Helper routine and Van de Camps fish fillets, shake n bake pork chops....
I think I have unconsciously never made a single thing that my mother made. She did make a good roast on Sundays occasionally, though.
Nope. My mother was/is a terrible cook. Jello mold topped with Miracle Whip is as far as she ever extended herself.
So was mine! But Dad could always whip up something totally delicious. Skirt steak and onions (OMG), fried fish, french fries (in his little deep fryer), oxtail soup, cod fish cakes and 'sghetti. He was the cook in the family. I'd eat anything he made.
No. Never any dishes that we considered to be "fancy". No "special occasion" dishes, nothing like that.
Nope. My parents (and I) came from the Midwest, and dad only liked bland foods.
As fancy as we got was Sunday roast dinner, turkey (all out) for TG. Ham for Easter.
Otherwise boring, bland, "frugal" (cheap...both grew up poor with a mother only)
Friday was "if you can name it, you can have it" day. Basically all leftovers of the week into one pot..add a can of tomato sauce, serve over rice and HOPE it tasted decent.
Best
*I should note my second jobs were cooking in 4* restaurants.
Didn't mean my parents wanted to eat any *specialty* I tried to offer.
Fish to them means...fish sticks.
Moms favorite dish-to-pass was baked beans, gawd I hated them.. I mean we used to go to about 3 DTP dinners a week in winter...UGH baked beans AGAIN!?!
At least I didn't have to cook more than baking the damn beans, oh yeah, catsup on top..I HATE "hot" catsup baked to a crisp..on anything.
Best
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